Researchers have discovered a PHP Object Injection vulnerability in the Donations Widget plugin for WordPress, which could potentially lead to remote code execution. The plugin helps WordPress users manage their fundraising campaigns and process donations on their websites. It is affected by the CVE-2025-0912 vulnerability in all versions up to and including version 3.19.4. The vulnerability occurs because the plugin fails to sanitize the 'card_address' parameter properly when handling donations, which allows unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object. This article will give you a deep understanding of this vulnerability, its impact, and the possible exploit methods.

Details of the Vulnerability

The CVE-2025-0912 vulnerability is a PHP Object Injection, which is typically a result of the unsafe use of unserialize() function in PHP. The vulnerability can be found in the 'process_donation_form()' function of the Donations_Widget.php file.

Here's a code snippet from the vulnerable function

function process_donation_form() {
    $data = $_POST['data'];
    $card_address = $data['card_address'];

    // Deserialize the card_address parameter
    $card_address_object = unserialize(base64_decode($card_address));

    // Process the donation
    // ...
}

As seen in the code snippet above, the 'card_address' parameter is base64_decoded() and then passed into the unserialize() function without sanitization, which could result in PHP Object Injection if an attacker successfully manipulates the 'card_address' data.

Exploiting the Vulnerability

To exploit the PHP Object Injection, an attacker would need to create a payload with a malicious serialized PHP object and submit it through the Donation Form. In this case, the attacker could inject a '__destruct' method into the PHP object, which would get executed when the object is destroyed.

Here's an example of a payload for the PHP Object Injection

class Exploit {
    function __destruct() {
        // Execute malicious code here
    }
}

$payload = urlencode(base64_encode(serialize(new Exploit)));

When the attacker submits this payload in the 'card_address' parameter of the Donation Form, it could potentially lead to remote code execution. With the additional presence of a POP (Property-Oriented Programming) chain, the attacker could execute arbitrary code, exfiltrate sensitive data, compromise the WordPress installation, or deface the website.

Remediation and Recommendations

The developers of the Donations Widget plugin for WordPress were notified about the CVE-2025-0912 vulnerability and have released a security update in version 3.19.5 to address this issue. All website owners and administrators should update their installations to the latest version immediately. To minimize risks, always follow security best practices when working with serialized data:

1. Avoid the use of unserialize() function on user inputs or use safe alternative ways to handle serialized data, such as JSON.

Validate and sanitize user inputs to prevent malicious payload injections.

3. Keep your WordPress plugins, themes, and core files up-to-date to ensure you have the latest security patches.

Original References and Additional Resources

1. CVE-2025-0912 Vulnerability Details
2. How to Prevent PHP Object Injection
3. Donations Widget Plugin Changelog

Timeline

Published on: 03/04/2025 04:15:11 UTC
Last modified on: 03/05/2025 16:39:15 UTC